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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24903865">Pride and the Princess</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatrinaKenyon/pseuds/KatrinaKenyon'>KatrinaKenyon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Princess AU, royal au</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 01:07:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,285</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24903865</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatrinaKenyon/pseuds/KatrinaKenyon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After weeks of having her daughter's name splashed all over the tabloids, Queen Dinah Lance of Aldovia decides that enough is enough. Princess Sara needs to grow up.</p><p>or the Royal AU where Sara is a rebellious princess and Ava is hired as her personal assistant/bodyguard to keep her out of trouble.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>118</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>281</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello all! Finished writing my dissertation, so now I can get back to what matters the most, fanfiction. So I originally wrote this whole story in 5 chapters with multiple points of view, similar to what I did in Dirty Computer, but then I decided to go back and write a prologue in just Ava's point of view. The prologue ended up being kind of long so I split it into a prologue and the first chapter. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Pride and the Princess</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Prologue: The First Meeting</strong>
</p><p>Ava Sharpe stood in front of a full-length mirror in the bedroom of her personal staff quarters at the Rigel Palace. She looked over her navy-blue pantsuit with a scrutinizing eye, making sure everything looked neat and professional. It was the same suit she used to wear when she was still a Secret Service agent working at the service headquarters in DC. She had spent most of her adult life working in various government agencies, but after the death of her sister Josslyn over a year and a half ago her job just didn’t hold any appeal, nothing did really.</p><p>She had come all the way to Aldovia, a small European kingdom that her father hailed from, for a new beginning. She desperately needed to try and heal from her sister’s death and move forward with her life. They were identical twins and had been inseparable even as adults. She hadn’t just lost her sister, she had also lost her best friend, the person she cared most about in this world. Josslyn’s death had hit her hard and she fell into a pit of despair that she felt like she could never get out of. It took her almost a year to feel like herself again, but even now she still had moments.</p><p>When her cousin Nora had called her two months ago asking her to come stay with her, saying it would do her some good to go somewhere new, she had packed up her apartment, put most of her things in storage, and went to live on her cousin’s estate. Her cousin still lived with her dad, and Ava didn’t blame her. They were ridiculously wealthy and had a mansion on a sprawling plot of land just outside the capital of Aldovia, Star City, where the royal family resided in a rather striking palace.</p><p>Moving had been kind of a rash decision, especially for her, but it’s not like she had much left for her in DC, and she did have dual citizenship even if she hadn’t visited her father’s homeland in a while. After she quit her job, she had started doing some freelance security work, making enough money to still live comfortably, but not finding the work itself to be fulfilling. Her parents still lived in Fresno, but she had no desire to move back home either, so here she was.</p><p>Her family hadn’t visited her uncle and cousin since she was in middle school and though she had kept in contact with Nora, it was nice to finally see her in person again. While she stayed at the Darhks’ estate, she got to know Nora’s friends and her uncle better, and became reacquainted with Aldovia. She was definitely being spoiled at her cousin’s place, living in the lap of luxury. It gave her some time to actually rest. She had been running herself ragged since her sister’s death trying to distract herself, so it was kind of nice to relax and regroup. She had so much free time now that she actually needed to start thinking about her future again and what her next steps would be.</p><p>After a month and a half, she found herself bored out of her mind and she didn’t see herself returning to DC anytime soon, so her cousin suggested she find some work. Before she could even start looking, Nora had made some calls and found her what her cousin described as a highly prestigious job. The position was for a year and then if she did well, they might decide to keep her on longer.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Her cousin positively vibrated with excitement, clutching a piece of paper she assumed held the job posting in her hands.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Well, what is this prestigious job?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Nora held out the paper to her. She read the description and nearly scoffed, but she kept reading and found herself curious. She would be Princess Sara Lance’s assistant at the Rigel Palace. Position to start almost immediately after hire and she would live on site at the palace.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“A personal assistant? That’s the prestigious job?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Slash body guard. That’s right up your ally. You would get to work with a princess in the actual palace, Ava! That’s such an honor. It would be the crowning glory of your resume!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She snorted. “I thought we agreed on no puns.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Nora only rolled her feline-like eyes at her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She looked at the paper again. “I don’t even know how long I’ll be here.” Which was true, but lately she had also been thinking about maybe staying a year or two. Plus, this job did sound intriguing. Well maybe not the job itself, but living in honest to god palace with a princess? It sounded a bit like a dream or maybe fairytale was a better word for it. It could be her next adventure, at the very least it would be a cool story to tell people if things didn’t work out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Nora arched an eyebrow at her. “Were you planning to move back anytime soon?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No, not really.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It would be great if you stuck around,” Nora said softly.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She smiled gently at her cousin. Nora had gone above and beyond for her this last year and a half and had been a great friend to her. The least she could do was stick around for her cousin.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I still want to keep a low profile,” she said abruptly. She had done a very good job of flying under the radar so far. “I don’t want any trouble or drama. I don’t want my family history to get in the way of anything.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Nora pursed her lips together. “Right. We might be able to make that happen.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>She had applied for the position that same day two weeks ago, got an interview, passed that first round of interviews with flying colors and then was stymied at the second interview. For the second round of interviews, they had the applicants come to the actual palace itself. She nearly passed out when she entered the grand room the interview was held in and saw Queen Dinah Lance herself. She had only seen pictures of the woman when she had done some googling on the royal family earlier to try and familiarize herself with her prospective employers. The queen was the definition of cool and collected, exuding a regal air about her. Her green eyed-gaze was so intense, it would have had her fidgeting in her seat if not for all her years of training as an agent.</p><p>The interview had started off well. She met all of the qualifications and the queen seemed pleased with all of her answers to the interview questions, but then things took a turn for the worse when her majesty revealed what she found out from the thorough background check conducted on her. They knew about her sister, which fine, that’s public knowledge, but their concern was her family history.</p><p>To her, it played no significant part in her life and she forgot that it was even a thing, but it seemed to matter in Aldovia. She leveled with the queen and told her she simply wanted be known as Ava Sharpe, retired Secret Service agent and nothing else. They had come to an agreement based on the fact that she probably wouldn’t be in Aldovia long enough for her little secret to be discovered, but if she were to decide to permanently live Aldovia then that might be a different matter.</p><p>And that’s how she got the job. Today was her first day and she was determined to make a good impression. She did some googling on Princess Sara and found that the princess seemed like she was going to be a handful. A real party girl, if the tabloids were anything to go by. There were a lot of stories that came out throughout her high school and college years and then some more in her early 20’s, but then the scandals stopped for a while, like maybe the princess had grown out of it. She noticed that the princess started acting up again more recently, the timing of those headlines occurring after the announcement of her sister Laurel, the Crown Princess of Aldovia, and Lord Oliver Queen’s engagement. That couldn’t be just a coincidence.</p><p>All the recent scandal had culminated to the confirmation that Princess Sara was bisexual, which had only been hinted at earlier in her history. There were pictures of the princess and some unnamed woman gracing all the major gossip rags and blogs she could find. The poor princess had been shoved out of the closet; her entire life splayed out as entertainment for the masses. She felt a pang of sympathy for the woman. Even if the princess seemed a bit reckless, she didn’t deserve for that to happen to her. There had been no official comment from the princess or her family, which only seemed to fan the flames. So in short, the queen had hired her to keep her daughter out of trouble and out of the headlines. She was basically just a glorified babysitter, but the pay was good so there was that.</p><p>She was to meet the princess for the first time today in the Winter Study. The queen was going to be present to introduce her and to smooth things over if need be. It was to her understanding that the princess had requested a personal assistant (PA), but hadn’t counted on her mother picking out said assistant for her. She could understand the princess’s frustration at that.</p><p>She studied her reflection in the mirror one last time looking at her jacket lapel where she had affixed a small pin of the royal family crest, which replaced the American flag pin that used to occupy that space when she was a member of the Secret Service. She would get used to it, like she was getting used to pretty much everything in Aldovia.</p><p>A palace attendant met her at the door to her personal quarters and led her down a series of halls until they reached the Winter Study. She tried not to be distracted by the splendor around her, but it was difficult not to. The floor beneath them was comprised of large marble tiles veined with a metallic gold mineral and the walls surrounding them were covered in a silk maroon and pale gold damask fabric wallpaper.</p><p>A pair of dark mahogany doors at the end of the hall opened up into a large study done in creams and robin egg blue. The lush carpet beneath her feet was cream colored, the walls that robin blue color. The left and right sides of the room were lined with built-in shelves holding books and shiny historical artifacts as well as framed photographs of the family going back several generations. At the back of the room was an enormous ornate marble fireplace serving as the focal point of the room, flanked by tall windows on either side letting in the morning sunshine. Before the fireplace was a sitting area complete with a robin blue oriental rug, a coffee table made of walnut wood, and matching blue silk armchairs and a settee all embroidered with flowers and pearlescent humming birds.</p><p>The queen was seated all proper-like in one of the armchairs, a polite practiced smile graced her lips when the attendant announced her arrival. As was proper etiquette, not that she really knew anything about it beyond what she had googled, she curtsied to the queen, but it was a clumsy uncoordinated thing that had her majesty wincing visibly.</p><p>“I’ll get better at that,” she said apologetically</p><p>The attendant who was still in the room with them looked at her sharply as if to rebuke her before being dismissed by the queen. She made a mental note to speak more formally around members of the royal family.</p><p>The queen smoothed the charcoal-colored skirt of her suit and said, “Yes well, I would appreciate that. I would say that my daughter will be here soon, but she does have a habit of running late.”</p><p>She frowned at that. She herself was always at least 15 minutes early to everything. “Tardiness is a pet peeve of mine,” she said sternly.</p><p>The corners of the queen’s mouth twitched upwards. “I appreciate punctuality as well, something I hope you can instill in Sara.”</p><p>Before she could open her mouth to reply, the door to the study swung open and a small, lithe blonde-haired woman came strolling through with the frazzled looking attendant rushing after her to announce the princess’s presence.</p><p>She found herself frozen in place because the princess wasn’t just beautiful, she was drop dead gorgeous, dressed in a sleeveless royal blue blouse tucked into form fitting black slacks. The princess greeted her mother first, dropping into a deep curtsy, giving her time observe the princess. Her brain might have malfunctioned a bit because she completely missed the queen formally introducing her to her new employer. The only thing currently running through her mind was that the princess was very pretty and she was very very gay.</p><p>
  <em>God, look at those arms.</em>
</p><p>She hoped her gawking wasn’t too visible, but the princess’s raised eyebrow told her otherwise. She managed to pull herself together, slipping back into her professional persona. Both the queen and the princess were looking at her expectantly and she realized then that she needed to do something, so she dropped into another horrific curtsey, which elicited a snort from the princess. She mentally cursed herself as a light blush spread across her cheeks. In her embarrassment, she failed to notice the queen giving her daughter a disapproving look.</p><p>After a quick recovery, she automatically offered her hand out for the princess to shake, which judging by the faces of the royalty in the room was the wrong thing to do, but the princess was polite enough to take her hand anyway.</p><p>“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Lance, err,” she stumbled and rushed to fix her mistake. “Your royal highness.”</p><p>That was so weird to say. The princess, though impossibly beautiful, just seemed like a normal person. She didn’t quite have the composure and regal aire her mother had.</p><p>Princess Sara looked at her in surprise after she spoke and then at her mother. “She’s American.”</p><p>That was certainly true. Her American accent stuck out like a sore thumb among the posh vaguely English accents of the Aldovian royals. She had gotten a lot of comments on her accent since arriving to Aldovia. She was a bit of a rarity. It seemed they didn’t get a lot of tourists from the States, which was probably for the best.</p><p>Ocean blue eyes returned to study her with a renewed interest.</p><p>“She is,” her mother agreed. “She’s here to help you with your day to day royal duties.” The queen looked at her as if deciding whether or not to say what she wanted to next. “Ms. Sharpe has limited knowledge about royal protocols and etiquette.”</p><p>Her cheeks went pink again at these words, which though true was not something she wanted advertised. She had planned to do some more research, make some friends among the palace staff, and get a lay of the land as soon as she could.</p><p>The princess smiled at her in a decidedly wicked way, eyes gleaming with mischief. She looked back at the princess warily, which only seemed to amuse the princess more.</p><p>“Oh, that’s okay. I can work with that.” Princess Sara said innocently.</p><p>The tone of the princess’s voice immediately put her on edge. She had hoped to have a good working relationship with the princess, but she was pretty sure her royal highness was not eager to have a PA handpicked by her mother stuck to her side day in and day out. This might be more challenging than she had originally thought.</p><p>“Sara,” her mother warned. “I hope that you’ll help Ms. Sharpe when she needs it. She is a very capable woman. Now that you are fully embracing your royal duties, you’ll learn that a good assistant is invaluable to our work.”</p><p>“Of course, mother,” the princess said agreeably, not taking her eyes off her new PA.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Part I: The Pillow Incident</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Part I: The Pillow Incident</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Ava stood in the small reception hall near the back entrance of the palace, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the princess to join her. It was early. Way too early, and she was already feeling cranky. Just outside the doors a royal town car complete with chauffeur waited to take them to their first meeting of the day.</p><p>They were doing a routine check of one of the many charitable organizations the Crown supported. As part of their service to the country, the royal family donated both their time and money to make sure these organizations stayed afloat and had what they needed to keep running. Sara had started to take on a larger role in all of this, taking some of the burden off of Princess Laurel. Frankly, she was surprised that Laurel was able to manage so many of these responsibilities by herself for as long as she had. Just making Sara’s very full schedule each week was enough to make her anxious.</p><p>Sara played a role in managing the charitable organizations supported by the crown, but her duties also included making appearances and attending important social events, welcoming dignitaries, attending state dinners, and giving the odd speech or two. Apparently, it was a lot of work being a princess. She would have never had guessed it before, but being the Princess’s PA and getting to go to all these places and indirectly meet new and important people was actually pretty exciting. And she had to admit, although reluctantly so, but when Sara was trying, she was really good at her job. She was effortlessly charming, attentive, and surprisingly well spoken and witty. The princess was quick on her feet and possessed a political savvy that was almost admirable.</p><p>That being said, the first month as Princess Sara’s personal assistant was a nightmare. It became very clear to her from day one that the princess would prefer not to have her around. She was almost certain that Sara herself couldn’t fire her since the Queen technically hired her. It seemed that Sara was trying to get her to quit herself. To say that the princess was difficult to work with was an understatement.</p><p>At first Sara was cold and standoffish, but she didn’t let that that affect her, presenting herself as indifferent. The princess changed tactics soon after and went from ice princess to obnoxious and rude. There were snide remarks, teasing, and a few unamusing pranks. Honestly, she felt like a governess in charge of a naughty child. Sara pushed and pushed until she had had enough of that behavior and told her so. She was pretty sure she earned some begrudging respect and decided that she would have a take no shit kind of attitude from then on. Standing her ground was the only way to go.</p><p>It was clear to her that Sara struggled to manage her schedule and was frustrated and stressed because of it. All those royal responsibilities were a lot to handle and whoever was helping her before was terrible at it, constantly double booking her and putting way too much in one day. It was probably overwhelming and it didn’t help that Sara’s first response was to run away from her responsibilities. This meant that the princess was constantly sneaking out and skipping appointments or trying to skip them. More often than not Ava was able to find her, thanks to the help of the Find My Friends app.</p><p>For her part, she kept Sara on a tightly organized schedule, making sure she actually did what she needed to do each day. She had to be constantly on the princess’s case. She truly was a glorified babysitter for a princess who was a grown ass woman just a year shy of 30, but she was going to be the kick in the pants the princess so clearly needed.</p><p>Besides her boss from hell, she was still adjusting to living in a palace. She had spent the first few weeks of her job learning the ins and outs of palace life and got friendly with other staff members, particularly the kitchen staff. She was getting spoiled by having all of her food made by the palace chefs. Definitely a perk.</p><p>She mostly had the palace layout memorized, something she had to quickly do in her second week on the job when the princess sent her to a restricted area of the palace in an attempt to get her fired. Nothing happened, thank god, but she came very close to killing the princess. Funnily enough, that same feeling was rearing up now. Yesterday, she had explicitly told the princess to be up bright and early and to meet her downstairs for her appointment.</p><p>Although, an incident that had occurred late last night should have clued her in that something like this would happen in the morning. She didn’t know why she had been so surprised, but after waking up from a nightmare sometime after midnight, she had opened a window to get some fresh air and caught the princess sneaking back into the palace. She had felt annoyance and anger flare up in her as she silently watched the princess slip back inside through the service entrance. What the princess did after hours wasn’t her problem, so she had done nothing. Waking up at the ass crack of dawn would be punishment enough.</p><p>She had left the window in search of her phone and somewhat reluctantly made a few calls checking to see if the princess had stirred up any trouble. Somehow Sara had managed to go clubbing undetected. Thank god. The princess had been scandal-free since she had accepted the position and she intended to keep it that way.</p><p>The longer she waited in the reception hall, the more irritated she got. She looked at her timepiece for the one hundredth time that morning, noting that 10 minutes had now passed since the agreed upon meeting time. Knowing the princess’s proclivity to play hooky, she always scheduled their arrivals to appointments for 30-40 minutes ahead of time. She let out a huff of frustration and then foolishly let another 5 minutes pass waiting on the princess. Her anger and frustration only grew over those minutes. She let her temper get the best of her and hightailed it to the wing of the palace where the princess’s quarters were located.</p><p>“I cannot believe this,” she mumbled to herself. “I will drag her out of that bed if I have to.”</p><p>She stomped past some of the cleaning staff, giving them a curt nod before continuing on her warpath. She tried very hard to keep a low profile, but practically all the staff was aware of her struggles with getting the princess to behave like an actual adult. She paused briefly outside the door to the princess’s rooms, vaguely aware that this was considered a restricted area and might actually get her fired, but to hell with that. Sara was being beyond professional, so she felt it only fair that she act unprofessional as well. Fighting fire with fire and all that. She didn’t even bother knocking. The princess probably wouldn’t bother getting up anyways.</p><p>The first room she entered was some type of sitting room, but she barely gave it any attention, opting instead to barrel through a door that led to the princess’s bedroom. It was dark inside, but the light spilling in from the sitting room allowed her to just make out the still sleeping form of the princess beneath her comforter. She stomped loudly across the room to the windows, roughly pulling the curtains open to let in the light of the now rising sun. A ray of light landed perfectly on the princess’s face.</p><p>Sara groaned, sitting up to look at her in groggy confusion. “What the hell, Ava?”</p><p>She assumed a parade rest stance at the foot of the bed, drawing herself into her full imposing height.</p><p>“We have an appointment this morning, Ms. Lance or did you forget,” she said snippily.</p><p>Sara’s hair was disheveled, her skin pale, and her eyes bloodshot with dark circles underneath. Great, the princess was hungover.</p><p>“Fuck, right.” Sara said, running a hand through her messy hair. “Just reschedule it for a little later.”</p><p>She scoffed, shooting the princess an incredulous look. “You are not rescheduling. This has been on your calendar for a month. It’s not their fault you decided to drink yourself silly in the middle of the week.”</p><p>She held her ground, eyes steely and piercing, when it looked like the princess was going to protest. Rather than follow her command, Sara flopped back onto her bed and pulled the comforter over her head. Her eyes widened in disbelief.</p><p>
  <em>Did she just..?!</em>
</p><p>She tried to center herself, but lost it again when she saw the princess curl up under the covers, getting comfy and clearly intending to go back to sleep.</p><p>
  <em>Oh wow, I might kill a princess today.</em>
</p><p>“An hour or two won’t hurt them,” the princess mumbled, voice sounding muffled from beneath the covers.</p><p>“I’m serious. Get up and get ready.”</p><p>“Would you just go away? My head is killing me.”</p><p>“You will honor your commitments, Sara,” she said vehemently.</p><p>“It’s Princess Sara,” Sara said under her breath, sounding particularly bratty.</p><p>It turned out that that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. She had enough of this self-centered, ill-mannered behavior from this adult woman. People were counting on the princess and her family’s funding. Didn’t she realize how important she was, how much power she had to help?</p><p>In a fit of anger, she ripped the pillow out from beneath Sara’s head and then proceeded to hit the princess with it repeatedly.</p><p>“What the hell?!” Sara managed to get out between thwacks, throwing her arms up to protect herself. “You psycho!”</p><p>She gave the princess one last satisfying thwack before pulling the pillow back. They stared at each in silence until the princess broke it.</p><p>Sara glared at her. “You are <em>so</em> fired.”</p><p>Ava rolled her eyes and tossed the pillow at the princess who caught it. “I don’t care. Get up and get dressed. You have 10 minutes or I come back for a repeat performance.”</p><p>She stared the princess down until Sara sagged in defeat knowing she had met her match. “Fine.”</p><p>The princess somehow managed to meet her downstairs within the allotted time. A true miracle. She nearly gasped in surprise when the princess came into view, but she remained impassive. Sara looked so well put together that Ava would have never believed she had a wild night out the night before. It was kind of impressive actually. Sara had her makeup fully done and her golden hair styled in elegant updo. The sizeable diamond studs adorning her ears sparkled prettily under the lights of the reception hall.</p><p>She held the door open and continued to observe the princess as they made their way to the town car. Pristine white snow crunched beneath their boots. It was supposed to be the end of winter, but they had had one last big snowstorm earlier in the week and a couple of sporadic snow falls in the days after.</p><p>Sara’s long white peacoat was embellished with gold buttons and fur trim around the cuffs and neck. The princess had paired it with chestnut-colored riding style boots. The elegant coat seemed to glimmer under the bright morning sun and probably cost more than she made in a month, maybe even two. She was loath to admit it, but Sara looked good in it. The way the stark white made those ocean blue eyes stand out was almost breathtaking. The princess’s beauty was probably the most annoying thing about her. How could someone so irresponsible and annoying be blessed with the looks of a goddess? Was it not enough that she was a princess?</p><p>Sara looked back at her when she didn’t open the car door for the princess like she usually did. She snapped out of her daze when the princess arched an eyebrow at her questioningly.</p><p>
  <em>Stop it, Sharpe. Stop being attracted to this woman.</em>
</p><p>She rushed forward to open the door, sliding in after Sara. The first 10 minutes of the drive were spent in complete silence, which was fine by her. The princess’s intense gaze bore into hers, eyes icy cold and lips pursed in a distinctly unhappy manner. Apprehension and a little fear welled up in her now as she processed the fact that she had assaulted the princess with a pillow. She had calmed down significantly since the pillow attack and was realizing that although it was immensely satisfying, she definitely shouldn’t have done that. She was so fired.</p><p>That realization must have shown on her face because the frown gracing the princess’s lips suddenly turned into an unsettlingly smug smile.</p><p>“Enjoy your last couple of hours of employment, Sharpe,” Sara taunted.</p><p>She rolled her eyes at the princess who looked back at her disbelievingly. No point in being polite now.</p><p>She looked down at her gloved hands. “You know what the worst thing about working for you is? You’re an irresponsible, spoiled brat.”</p><p>“Tell me how you really feel,” Sara interrupted, voice dripping with sarcasm.</p><p>She looked up sharply at the princess startling her. “And you’re really fucking good at your job when you try. You could be great at it if you took it more seriously, but for some reason you don’t and it’s really frustrating.”</p><p>Sara’s brow furrowed in confusion, clearly not expecting that outburst. She sighed and looked out the window. She could feel Sara’s gaze on her again, but refused to look back at her.</p><p>“I don’t understand you,” she said honestly.</p><p>She had hoped the tabloids had just been exaggerating about the princess, but it turned out they weren’t that far off and even though she still had sympathy for the princess and the way she was outed, she couldn’t help but feel let down. In front of her was a woman with so much potential, a woman who had a chance to do some real good in this crazy world, but with little will to do so.</p><p>“Well, you don’t need to. You’ll be gone by the end of the day anyway,” Sara told her, but her words lacked the vitriol they should have had.</p><p>“Yeah, I know,” she said softly.</p><p>She turned her head to look back at the princess. Sara was watching her closely with an odd expression on her face. She let her emotions bleed through for a moment and something heavy and sorrowful filled her eyes as she realized that she wanted to stay despite all the challenges of the job. This could have been her next adventure.</p><p>These last four weeks she had actually been moving forward for once, instead of standing still as life went on around her. The princess’s expression grew perplexed at the suddenly somber mood of the car. She didn’t look away. She held Sara’s gaze until the princess turned away letting out a little huff of annoyance.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>0oo0oo0</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>By some miracle, she was still employed by the end of the day. As it turned out, her knack for keeping Sara out of trouble and on task trumped her pillow assault and general rude behavior. She had the pleasure of being in the same room as Sara to witness the look of shock on the princess’s face as the queen told her in no uncertain terms that Ms. Sharpe was here to stay and she would treat her with respect. She tried not to take great joy in seeing her employer being scolded like the child she was, but it was hard not to.</p><p>Sara rushed out the room shamefaced when it was all over and she followed behind still reveling in her triumph. Their heels clicked on the marble floors of the grand hallway as they made their way to the princess’s private office, which was also where her desk was. The princess was steadfastly ignoring her, ears tipped red with embarrassment. She kept her eyes trained on the princess’s face curious, but intent on basking in the Sara’s defeat.</p><p>“Oh, shut up,” the princess sniped at her.</p><p>“I didn’t say anything.”</p><p>“You were thinking it.”</p><p>“Oh, so you’re a mindreader now?”</p><p>Sara scowled at her. “I should have you thrown in the dungeons for the way you talk to me.”</p><p>“Well, if they’re far away from you, I’m sure they’ll feel like heaven,” she snapped. Okay that was childish even for her. She scrunched her nose up unhappily. “Sorry, that was a bit much.”</p><p>“You think?” Sara dragged a hand down her face, clearly still frustrated. “Just go and get me a latte. I need caffeine. I’ll text you my order.”</p><p>She stopped walking, confused. The palace had its own personal barista, who definitely knew what Sara liked.</p><p>“Order?” She questioned, getting a sinking feeling in her stomach.</p><p>Sara smirked. “Oh yeah, did I forgot to mention that I want Starbucks?”</p><p>She couldn’t be serious. There was only one Starbucks in the city and it being a bit of a novelty in this country was always busy. This was ridiculous.</p><p>The princess gave her a little push when she failed to move. “I need me some ‘Bucks, babe. Now chop-chop!”</p><p>She gritted her teeth, not liking the victorious smile the princess was wearing. “Fine, your royal highness.”</p><p>She expected retaliation. She just didn’t think it would happen so soon. She curtsied, wobbling perilously, and rushed off to do as she was told. But it didn’t end there. The princess took great pleasure in sending her off on useless, timing consuming errands. She completed every single task given to her, not wanting to give Sara the satisfaction of winning this little war.</p><p>The princess thought she was being particularly clever one day well into her second month at the palace, sending her off to retrieve an unpublished manuscript. At first she hadn’t known that and popped off to the nearest bookstore to purchase the book, but then she realized that Rebecca Silver’s newest novel wasn’t out yet. She got lucky with this one because she happened to know the author. Her cousin Nora’s close friend, Lady Mona Wu, wrote under that pen name. To say that Mona was thrilled that the Princess of Aldovia wanted to read her book was a massive understatement.</p><p>She had to promise not to share the book with anyone else, but other than that she had completed this impossible task. She had spent her lunch break doing it too, but it was worth the look of shock and begrudging respect the princess gave her when she tossed the manuscript on her desk.</p><p>“Well done, Sharpe,” the princess said somewhat impressed, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her chair.</p><p>She might have preened a little at the comment, but she earned it. Sara indulged her with a rare genuine smile.</p><p>Things got a little better after that. Sara must have realized how determined she was to succeed. She put all of her energy into making sure Sara did her job and slowly, ever so slowly, Sara began to do things without her prodding and pushing all the time. She didn’t think she would, but she actually kind of liked being a PA. It was nice organizing schedules and making lists and then checking things off those lists. There was enough variety in her daily tasks that she wasn’t ever bored. She didn’t know if this could be her forever job, but it was enough for now.</p><p>Halfway through her third month at the palace, they reached a turning point. Sara had sent her on another Starbucks run, as a way to procrastinate on a large pile of paperwork that needed to be done ASAP. She returned with a vanilla latte passing Felicity and Mr. Stein, Sara’s assistant secretary and secretary, respectively, on her way to Sara’s office. Well technically, Mr. Stein worked more with Sara’s mother and kind of bridged the gap between mother and daughters. Felicity tended to work more with Laurel, which made sense seeing as Laurel had been handling both of their royal duties for years. This was probably why Sara requested her own assistant in the first place.</p><p>She entered Sara’s large spacious office without knocking. The office was decorated just as elegantly and lavishly as the rest of the palace with a large ornate oak desk standing as the focal point of the room. Her smaller, plainer desk sat off to the side near a window. Her heels sunk into the plush red carpet as she made her way over to the princess.</p><p>She noted with some annoyance that the paperwork the princess was supposed to be working on was still largely untouched in favor of playing on her smart phone. Sara looked up from her phone briefly and held out her hand for the coffee, taking it without even offering her a thanks.</p><p>“How was ‘Bucks?”</p><p>She shrugged. “It kind of reminds me of home,” she mused aloud.</p><p>It really did. Aldovia lacked all of the typical fast food and franchise restaurants they had back in the States, some of which she genuinely missed. Stepping into Starbucks felt a little bit like being in back in the states. Everything in the Aldovian Starbucks was pretty similar to the ones back home.</p><p>She instantly regretted telling Sara that. Her response was bordering on personal, which was something she avoided doing. She wasn’t keen on letting anyone find out about her sister, didn’t want to have to explain her tragic backstory. In general, she didn’t want anyone digging into her past or looking into her family. She was still trying to keep a low profile and keep that one secret of her’s a secret. She didn’t want or need that drama in her life especially if she wasn’t sure about staying in Aldovia. That was something to deal with another day.</p><p>The princess for her part put her phone down, giving her her full attention.</p><p>“Do you miss home?” Sara asked curiously.</p><p>
  <em>What a complicated question.</em>
</p><p>She felt a number of things when she thought about home, most of them overwhelming because home used to mean her sister, but now who knew where home was? She felt a sharp of pang anguish as fond memories of her sister in their shared apartment back in DC flooded her mind. Her composure cracked just enough to let a soft pained gasp pass her lips. She tried to reign it in, shutter away the grief that must surely be showing on her face. She hated when this happened. She would be doing perfectly fine and then her grief would hit her out of nowhere.</p><p>Sara leaned forward looking at her in concern. She desperately tried to pull herself together, never having lost her composure this badly in front of the princess. Her throat felt tight and her breaths were coming in shallow. Grief and panic were both warring in her now.</p><p>“Breathe, Ava,” the princess said softly, interrupting her downward spiral.</p><p>She let out a slow deep breath, keeping her eyes trained on the princess’s desk. It helped. She could feel that tight knot of anxiety loosen and dispel from her body. All that remained was embarrassment.</p><p>“Sometimes, I-.” She paused and started again more calmly. “Sometimes I miss home,” she said evenly, feeling more in control of herself again.</p><p>She was desperate for the princess to ignore this little outburst, to move on and pretend it had never happened. Sara only looked her over searchingly, but then schooled her features back to something cool and collected. She nearly let out a sigh of relief. Being perceptive was part of why the princess was so good at her job. She could always anticipate what people needed and was kind enough to give it to them. More and more each day she found, unexpectedly, that there were things about the princess that she did like, which was worrisome.</p><p>
  <em>Do not develop a crush on this completely unattainable woman that you don’t even like anyway.</em>
</p><p>They looked at each other a little while longer, before she straightened up and addressed the paperwork that needed to be done.</p><p>“This needs to be completed by Monday, Sara,” she said sternly.</p><p>The princess no longer tried to get her to address her by her title when they were in private, which she was grateful for. Logically, she knew the woman was royalty and her public persona was admittedly very ice princess, but in private she just seemed like a normal person. Well, a normal person that annoyed the hell out of her, but was just fine with everyone else</p><p>Sara rolled her eyes at her and pushed the stack of papers across the desk closer to her. “Knock yourself out.”</p><p>She counted to five and then tried a different approach. She just needed to get the princess to work with her instead of against her all the time.</p><p>“Look if we split the paperwork up, I bet we can finish it by the end of today and have a free weekend.”</p><p>Sara considered her for a moment before smiling agreeably at her. “I like the way you think, Sharpe.”</p><p>She grinned taking the top half of the stack eagerly and practically floating over to her desk. Just a nice relaxing day of paper work. This was way easier in comparison to some of the other tasks and visits they usually did.</p><p>Sara chuckled at her display, watching her amusedly.</p><p>“I like paperwork,” she admitted, shrugging helplessly.</p><p>Sara snorted. “Okay, nerd.”</p><p>Six o’clock rolled around and over the silence of the room that had pervaded the last couple of hours, she started to hear the restless fidgeting of the princess. She had to admit that she had been slowing down over the last hour and could use a break too, but they had maybe less than an hour’s worth of work to do between the two of them. She was afraid that if she left for a dinner break Sara might lose her motivation.</p><p>“Hey,” Sara said getting her attention.</p><p>She looked over at the princess, vision slightly blurry from staring at fine print all day. She felt a little cross eyed and blinked slowly to clear her vision. Once her sight was cleared, she found the princess was looking at her like she had done something particularly adorable. She did not care for that.</p><p>“What do you want for dinner?” Sara asked casually, like this was something that happened all the time. “I think it’s time for a little break.”</p><p>They never ate meals together. She sort of assumed it was a rule for staff. Plus, for the better part of her employment here, they couldn’t stand each other until very recently. Was this a proverbial olive branch?</p><p>“Oh uh, a sandwich?” She said hesitantly.</p><p>Sara arched an eyebrow at her. “You have the palace kitchen at your disposal. You can do better than that. If you could have any food you wanted right now, what would it be?”</p><p>“Uh,” she stalled, unsure if she should answer honestly. Ocean eyes were laser focused on her. Having Sara’s undivided attention was a little unnerving. She ended up blurting out the word, “Steak.” And then cringing.</p><p>“Okay, that’s a start,” the princess said, clearly holding back a laugh. “Any specific cut of meat? Sides?”</p><p>They ended up both getting filet mignon with a side of creamy mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus and the most decadent chocolate cake for dessert. The food was 5 star restaurant quality, much better than the food the staff usually got, which don’t get her wrong was good, but nothing compared to what the royal family apparently got. She was pretty sure this kind of inequality was how revolts started.</p><p>They sat across from each other at Sara’s cleaned off desk. She ate happily and with gusto, mood improving the second perfectly cooked steak met her mouth.</p><p>Sara paused to watch her. “Are you just hangry all the time? Is that why you’re so grumpy? Is food the key to keeping you happy?”</p><p>She rolled her eyes, but didn’t dispute the princess. She chewed happily and swallowed before offering a genuine, “Thanks, for this.”</p><p>“Thank you for doing half the paperwork.” The princess played with some of the asparagus on her plate before admitting, “We actually make a pretty good team.”</p><p>“I know.” She said bluntly.</p><p>When they weren’t at each other’s throats, they were a dream team. With Sara’s charm and business acumen, and her determination and organizational skills, there wasn’t any task they couldn’t accomplish. She just wished the princess had come to this conclusion earlier. It would have made both their lives easier.</p><p>From that point on things were different. The princess started to actually devote herself completely to her work. Sara was actually keeping all her appointments, taking more initiative and flourishing in this role. She may or may not have been a little proud of the princess, not that she’d ever tell her that. They started to work together as a team, with Sara starting to relay on her to make sure things ran smoothly. Of course, the princess was still irritating, but her intent was no longer malicious. It looked like Ava was here to stay.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Part II: Garden Parties and Secrets</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm back! Got my PhD and graduated since the last chapter, so here's Part 2 to celebrate! Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Part II: Garden Parties and Secrets</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Her Royal Highness, Princess Sara Lance of Aldovia, observed the latest addition to her entourage, Ava Sharpe, her personal assistant/bodyguard. Ava was currently typing away on her laptop, getting tomorrow’s schedule finalized. The former Secret Service agent had joined her team roughly three months ago after a series of wild nights out that ended up splashed all over the tabloids and gossip rags.</p><p>So she was a bit of a wild child in comparison to her perfect older sister Laurel, the Crown Princess, and maybe she put herself in a little danger by sneaking out without her security, but at least she had some fun. Best of all, she was finally out of the closet. It was worth all the trouble and her parent’s anger in her opinion, but her Queen mother sorely disagreed with her, and thus the professional babysitter.</p><p>To be fair she had been the one to request a personal assistant after starting to get more serious with her royal duties. Her parents had been thrilled, thinking that she was putting an end to her childish behavior now that she was nearly in her 30s. She loved her sister, but they were like night and day. Laurel was the golden child, beloved by the public and soon to be married. Who didn’t love a royal wedding? Her sister could do no wrong, she, however, was the family screw up and she had accepted this.</p><p>What she hadn’t accepted was losing her sister to some snobby, broody lord. These days between Crown Princess duties and her fiancé, Laurel seemed to have no time for her. It used to be her and Laurel against the world, and now her sister had left her all alone. On top of that she was beginning to realize that she didn’t have a lot of true friends and was feeling more and more isolated each day they got closer to the royal wedding. Maybe that’s why she had been acting out in the days and weeks following the announcement of her sister’s engagement? Or maybe she had just been bored.</p><p>In any case, her PA was keeping her plenty entertained now. Ava was terrifyingly competent, able to fulfill even her silliest of requests, and charmingly American. Her PA seemed to have only a cursory knowledge of her family history and knew very little about aristocratic customs and etiquette. Her curtsies were absolutely laughable. Ava wasn’t concerned about titles or ranks, and didn’t seem to care what the nobility of Aldovia thought of her (not that they gave much thought to anyone without a title). She found that part of Ava to be refreshing.</p><p>What she disliked most about her PA was her ability to keep her out of trouble. Having Ava in charge of her schedule was the worst. Her new schedule was admittedly less overwhelming, but so tightly organized that she didn’t even have a chance to sneak away during the workday. Ava was the definition of all work and no play. In her opinion, the woman was rigid and far too serious, but surprisingly easy to get a rise out of and fun to tease. If her mother was going to hire her a babysitter then she could at least have a little fun with her.</p><p>Despite Ava working for her for nearly three months, she knew very little about her PA. The woman was hard to get to know, but purposely so. What she did know was that Ava was an American from DC, a retired Secret Service agent who decided to randomly move to Aldovia. She had heard her from her assistant secretary, Felicity, that Ava was a friend of Lady Eleanor Darhk, and that she had family here.</p><p>Ava almost never revealed anything about her personal life and was cool and professional most of the time, unless Sara was being purposely irritating then Ava had no problem snapping at her and putting her in her place. Ava might be the only person on her staff that does that (or at least the only person brave enough to). Her PA didn’t seem to care that Sara was a Princess and just treated her like she treated anyone else. It was a novelty for her and maybe the burgeoning camaraderie developing between the two of them was the reason she allowed it. One could say that she was growing fond of the other woman.</p><p>There was one notable thing that she had noticed about her PA. Sometimes, in the quiet moments when everyone else was distracted by their own work, she saw Ava lost in her own thoughts with an anguished almost pained expression gracing her face. She felt a pang of sympathy for the other woman every time she saw it. She noticed then that the clacking sound of Ava typing on her keyboard had stopped and when she glanced over, she realized that Ava had that anguished far away look in her eyes again.</p><p>She brushed her bare feet across the lush red carpet beneath her desk, feeling blindly for her ballet flats before slipping them on. Her heavy oak desk decorated with ornate carvings was clean at the moment, with her laptop open before her and a stack of organized folders sitting in the right-hand corner of the desk. The walls of her spacious office were lined with bookcases of a dark oak, containing antique books that no one had touched in decades. There were two large windows behind her desk, displaying the setting sun. It was past seven now. The days were starting to grow longer as they approached the end of spring.</p><p>The room was dim enough that she would need to turn a light on soon, but she was tired and figured they might as well be done for the day. Ava sat in a smaller desk set up off to the side and pressed up against the wall beneath the window furthest from her desk. She called out her PA’s name, but Ava only continued to stare out the window. She had been doing that an awful lot this week. She sighed and approached the woman, putting a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. The muscles beneath her hand tensed, but she left it there until she felt her PA relax.</p><p>She gave Ava’s shoulder a squeeze, before saying, “Let’s wrap it up for the day.”</p><p>Ava nodded soundlessly and began to pack up her things. “We have an appointment for 9am. Please, remember to wake up on time.”</p><p>She rolled her eyes remembering one particular occasion where Ava had come into her room and assaulted her with a pillow when she didn’t immediately rise from bed. She had complained to her mother of course, hoping to get her new PA fired, but her Queen mother had simply told to wake up on time. It was Ava’s job to make sure she adhered to her schedules and royal duties. Ava had been in the room with her as her mother thoroughly reprimanded her. God, that had been embarrassing.</p><p>“Of course, your highness,” she said executing a perfect curtsy. “Your wish is my command.”</p><p>Ava snorted but didn’t take the bait. She observed her PA as she shoved her laptop into its case, taking in the meticulously neat bun and the navy-blue suit she had become accustomed to seeing on the other woman. Ava still dressed like she worked for the Secret Service. For all she knew those suits her PA always wore could be the same suits she wore when she was in the Secret Service. Ava was a gorgeous woman, that didn’t escape her notice, but her wardrobe could do with an update, which was exactly what was going to happen tomorrow.</p><p>She and her sister had a joint appointment with their personal shopper, their team of stylists, and the royal tailor. She was meant to pick out a new wardrobe for the next season’s upcoming events. The summer social season was soon to begin and with Laurel being busy with wedding planning, her mother wanted her out in full force. There would be lots of balls, dinners with dignitaries, and a number of charity luncheons and teas to attend.</p><p>Tomorrow she would need to pick out perfectly respectable outfits and she have to spend her summer months being a well-mannered princess and pretend that people weren’t whispering about her behind her back. Laurel would be at some the of events, but she would have her fiancé Oliver by her side. If she couldn’t have Laurel by her side, she would at least have to have Ava. It wasn’t strange for a member of the royal family to bring staff with them, so she was going to take advantage of that fact.</p><p>She ginned at Ava and her PA instantly grew wary. Steel-blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. And if Ava was going to tag along to these events, then she would have to dress the part. She would stick out like a sore thumb all summer if she wore her suits. On a second thought, maybe she could have her stylists pick out some better suits for Ava as well. Killing two birds with one stone as it were. Tomorrow was going to be thoroughly entertaining for her.</p><p>“What?” Ava asked, sounding disgruntled.</p><p>She gestured to Ava’s outfit. “Lose the suit tomorrow and wear your hair down. I reserved one of my stylists for you, Sharpie.”</p><p>Ava gritted her teeth. “I told you not to call me that. And why on earth would I do that?”</p><p>She<em> tsked</em> and then booped the PA on the nose. “You can’t wear a suit to Lady Vera’s luncheon next week.”</p><p>Ava swatted her hand away irritably and then froze. “I didn’t think I would be attending a purely social event.”</p><p>She waved her hand dismissively. “Well you are. You’ll be attending all of the summer social events. I’m a very busy Princess who needs her PA by her side and you need to dress the part. Skirts, evening gowns, hats, shoes, the works.”</p><p>Ava scrunched up her nose in distaste. It was kind of cute. “Am I being punished?”</p><p>“You know, any other girl would think this was a reward. Do you know how many people would kill to get an invitation to an event like this? Besides it will take your mind off of whatever it is that’s bothering you.”</p><p>Ava looked at her in surprise before schooling her face into something more neutral.</p><p>She shrugged. “You’ve been moodier than usual lately.”</p><p>Ava’s expression fell at that and she began to apologize. A bit of that anguish returned to those lovely steel-blue eyes and she felt terrible about being the one to put it there.</p><p>“I’m sorry. I-.”</p><p>She placed her hand over Ava’s. “Don’t be.”</p><p>Ava sighed and looked down at their hands. She had always been a rather tactile person, but seemed to have become even more so with Ava ever since they began to work together as a team. She had noticed before that her PA held herself at a distance with everyone else in the Palace, but didn’t seem to mind her closeness. For some reason she felt drawn to her PA despite the general guardedness Ava displayed towards others. She just couldn’t help but be curious about this intensely private woman. Maybe she just liked mysteries?</p><p>This moment right here might be the most personal they had ever gotten, but she didn’t want Ava to feel like she owed her any explanation of something that clearly caused her pain. She tugged Ava towards the door. The sun had truly set now and they were just standing in the dark.</p><p>“You should probably shave your legs tonight too,” she informed her PA. “There’s going to be lots of dresses and I bet those things barely see the sun.”</p><p>“Hey!” Ava said indignantly. “They see the sun. Shut up.”</p><p>She put a hand to her heart in mock shock. “Are you telling the Princess Sara Lance of Aldovia to shut up?”</p><p>Ava rolled her eyes at her. “Whatever.”</p><p>“You’re lucky I let you get away with so much. Anyone else, and it would have been off to the dungeons with them.”</p><p>Ava chuckled and rolled her eyes again, not looking sad at all anymore.</p><p> </p><p>0oo0oo0</p><p> </p><p>The Crown Princess of Aldovia, Laurel Lance, scrolled through her phone whilst waiting for her baby sister and her personal assistant to arrive. The pair were only a few minutes late, so she wasn’t too concerned just impatient. Her own staff would greet her at the posh shop where their stylists were set up. Since her arrival to the palace, Ms. Sharpe had practically glued herself to her sister’s side. She wasn’t sure if that was because of Sara’s doing or if their Queen mother had ordered it.</p><p>The door to the royal town car opened and Princess Sara slid in beside her holding two Starbucks cups in her hands. <em>Well, that would explain her tardiness.</em> Her sister’s PA entered after her and slipped into the seat across from the sisters.</p><p>“Sara,” Laurel admonished. “Tell me you did not make poor Ms. Sharpe run out and get you Starbucks again? We have perfectly good coffee at the palace.”</p><p>Sara grinned impishly at her and handed her the second cup. “I had to get my Starbucks fix. Besides, Ava loves the morning madness of ‘Bucks. Don’t ya, Sharpie.”</p><p>“I live to serve you,” Ava said drolly.</p><p>She had to suppress a smile.</p><p>Sara stuck her tongue out at her PA and then sipped happily at her drink. Ava sighed deeply, but didn’t deign to give Sara a response. Instead the PA busied herself by digging through her purse in search of her phone. The town car took off and her sister chatted with her, excited about their appointment.</p><p>When they reached a lull in their conversation she glanced at her sister’s PA. Ava looked significantly more grumpy than usual, tapping away on her phone distractedly and not paying them any attention. She liked her sister’s new PA and appreciated her talent for keeping Sara out of trouble. Of course, the American was a bit of an unusual choice, coming from practically out of nowhere with only a recommendation from Lady Darhk. Ava and her sister had gotten along like oil and water at first, but seemed to settle into some semblance of a professional relationship. Although, she knew her sister took great pleasure in torturing the poor woman, these unnecessary Starbucks runs being a good example.</p><p>She looked back at Sara who was watching the PA intently. It didn’t escape her notice that her baby sister was attracted to Ava and let her get away with far more than she should have. She didn’t know if Ava liked women, but she did give off a certain vibe. She wasn’t sure if she should be worried that something less than professional could develop between the two of them or if she should be encouraging it. Sara did seem happier lately and was actually keeping out of the headlines. It could be a good thing, she mused. In this hypothetical situation, the real obstacle would be their parents, well their mother really. Her father just wanted the two of them to be happy and had always worried over Sara more. Their mother on the other hand was more concerned about the family’s image.</p><p>In her observation of the PA, she noticed that there was something different about her today besides the extra grumpiness.</p><p>“Your hair is down,” she said in surprise.</p><p>Ms. Sharpe usually wore her hair up in a perfectly coiffured bun, but today it was down in loose golden waves. It softened the other woman and made her seem less intimidating and more approachable. It was a good look.</p><p>Ava looked up from her phone and shot her sister a displeased look before answering, “Her royal highness, requested I wear it down today and that I wear civilian, I mean normal clothes.”</p><p>“You did?” She asked curiously.</p><p>Sara nodded. “I’m getting her a summer event wardrobe. Ava has graciously agreed to chaperone me at all of the events I’m scheduled to be at.”</p><p>She turned to look at the PA who appeared to be incredibly unhappy about this, crossing her arms and practically pouting. And this time she couldn’t hide her smile. Ava was being particularly adorable at the moment and she’s pretty sure Sara thought so too.</p><p>She mouthed the word ‘cute’ to her sister and Sara grinned. Ava only scowled at the two of them before remembering that they were royalty and schooling her face into its customary neutral expression.</p><p>Their styling appointment went well. For the most part it was like a fashion show with the two of them taking turns trying on outfits and modeling them for each other. They had a great time, snacking on tea sandwiches and little tasty pastries, and washing it all down with champagne. They had loved these appointments since they were children.</p><p>Ava on the other hand disliked everything about her styling appointment. She hated putting on the dresses and the heels and being paraded around the shop for her and Sara’s (but mostly Sara’s) enjoyment. It was a little like dressing a toddler, but she could tell the stylists were having fun dressing the tall statuesque woman and fussing over her. All they had left to do now was pick out a few evening gowns, but Ava was refusing to come out of the dressing room, much to their amusement.</p><p>She and her sister approached the curtain separating the dressing room from the rest of the shop. They looked at each other and smiled. The small team of stylists stood behind them equally amused. The American PA certainly made all their lives more interesting.</p><p>“You all right in there?” Sara asked with humor coloring her voice.</p><p>“I feel silly.” Ava said unhappily.</p><p>Her sister frowned and then without saying anything slipped behind the curtain. She heard Ava squeak in surprise and rolled her eyes at her sister’s antics. She pressed closer to the curtain, well as close as she could.</p><p>“Is this really necessary? I feel stupid.” She could hear the insecurity in the PA’s voice, but she was sure that whatever Ava was in she looked wonderful. Their stylists had chosen very well for her.</p><p>She heard a rustling of fabric. “You look beautiful, Ava,” her sister said softly and fondly.</p><p>They went silent for a few beats and she wished she could see what was happening behind the curtains.</p><p>“Thank you,” Ava finally said, equally as soft.</p><p>The curtain rippled open before her and out came Sara dragging an apprehensive Ava behind her. Her sister was right, Ava was an absolute vision in the strapless lilac colored evening gown she wore. The gown was embellished with floral embroidery and silver beading.</p><p>“It’s perfect,” she said.</p><p>She looked at her sister who was staring at her PA warmly and then at Ava who was pink cheeked and staring at the ground. She was definitely going to have to keep an eye on these two.</p><p> </p><p>0oo0oo0</p><p> </p><p>Princess Sara chuckled quietly to herself as she watched her PA fidget with the hem of her skirt while simultaneously tapping away at the thin tablet in her hand. No doubt going through the event guest list again and making sure she knew the ranks, titles, and names of all the guests. The woman had a mind like a steel trap and it was honestly really impressive. This was the second event of the summer season, and it was going to be a slightly larger affair than a luncheon.</p><p>They were to attend the garden party of a visiting Princess, Zari Tazari, the Crown Princess of a small Mediterranean kingdom. She was spending her summer in Aldovia and was the current subject of all the gossip rags. It looked like there was another party girl in town, much to her parents’ relief.</p><p>Eyes still glued to her tablet, Ava pulled at the hem of her skirt again, but it did nothing to hide the glorious miles of leg that were exposed for all too see. She had picked out Ava’s outfit again for this event, not trusting the woman to show up in a one of her navy-suits. Her PA was outfitted in a satiny olive green long-sleeved blouse with cuffed bell sleeves and a fawn colored pencil skirt. It was simple, but elegant and professional. She had her hair and makeup crew give the PA the works too, so Ava was already in a mood. Her stylists had left the PA’s hair down and gave it a gentle curl, but Ava had complained that she did not like her hair loose during business hours, claiming it would obstruct her view and affect her work. Sara had let out a snort of laughter then and dismissed her concerns. Her PA could be so dramatic sometimes.</p><p>Her sister wasn’t going to be at this event so she was off to face the wolves alone. Well, not completely alone. She had Ava at least. She continued to watch her for a few seconds longer before putting a stop to Ava’s fidgeting hands.</p><p>She tutted. “Stop that. It’s fine.”</p><p>“It’s too short.” Ava complained. “And too tight. How am I supposed to run in this?”</p><p>She snorted. “Do you even know what a garden party is? I don’t need your secret agent skills today”</p><p>Ava made a face at her, scrunching her nose up in displeasure even though the PA knew she was right. She was familiar with this expression by now and was finding it increasingly cute on the other woman, which was something to worry about on another day.</p><p>“All right, so I won’t be doing a lot of running,” Ava conceded.</p><p>The party was surprisingly dull given all the rumors and scandal surrounding the eldest Tazari child. She mingled and greeted different nobility and other important dignitaries, and even a few celebrities. All the while Ava trailed behind her whispering names into her ear whenever she came across a person she didn’t know or couldn’t remember.</p><p>After she was done with her rounds, she made an effort to find the few people she was actually friendly with. They weren’t quite her friends, but it was as close as she was going to get. It was hard sometimes to tell if people were just sucking up to her or if they were being genuine.</p><p>Lady Mona Wu came up to her and greeted her warmly. She dropped the ice princess persona and found herself smiling back in earnest. The Lady was a bit over energetic and maybe lacked a certain amount of tact, but she was perhaps one of the kindest people she knew. Mona hugged her enthusiastically and grinned at her. She really did seem happy to see her.</p><p>“It’s so nice to see you out and about again,” Mona gushed sincerely.</p><p>“Well, my name is out of the headlines so my mother is allowing me out of my cage again.” She said wryly.</p><p>Mona gave her a sympathetic look. “It must be hard being in the public eye all the time like that. I barely get mentioned in the papers, but even I get annoyed when I do.”</p><p>“Yeah. I’d like you to meet Ava by the way,” she said wanting the change the topic, not even caring how strange it was for her to introduce a member of her staff. “This is -.”</p><p>“Oh! We’ve met before!” Mona said much to her surprise. “Ava, right? I remember you from Nora’s. I mean Lady Darkh’s.”</p><p>Looked like Ava was a regular social butterfly. She arched an eyebrow at Ava, but her PA only shrugged at her. Very helpful. She would have to remember to ask more about her connection to Lady Darhk later. She felt like there was a story there.</p><p>She continued to mingle at the garden party, waiting until the appropriate amount of time had passed so she could leave. In the past she had been the life of the party at these things, but all everyone wanted to talk about was Laurel’s upcoming wedding and she was sick of talking about that. Sick of being reminded that Laurel was going to start a whole new life without her.</p><p>She stood at the periphery of a group, half-listening as they talked about upcoming parties or whatever. Her attention wandered over to Ava, who was standing beside her not even bothering to pay attention. She could see that her PA was looking over at one of the buffet tables with interest. She almost laughed out loud. Keeping her hangry PA fed was key to keeping her happy. She bumped Ava with her hip and nodded towards the table silently giving her permission to leave her side. Ava made a beeline to the table filled with desserts.</p><p>She let her gaze stay on Ava, watching as her PA waited patiently for a group of three young aristocrats to move so she could reach a particular tray of sweets. She recognized the three men from various parties and was almost certain that she had fooled around with the tallest one once.</p><p>From her periphery she could see Princess Zari approaching the buffet table and grimaced. The poor princess was going to be graced with Ava’s terrible curtsy. The princess in question was striking, dressed in a flowy summer dress of bright fuchsia with a white flower pattern. Princess Zari had always been something of a fashion icon.</p><p>Her gaze flickered back to her PA frowning when she realized that something wasn’t right. Ava’s body was rigid and tense and she was scowling at the men who were now speaking obnoxiously loud. Almost on instinct, she started to make her way towards Ava cutting across the lawn instead of using one of the garden’s brick pathways. Her heels sank a little in the soft grass causing her to slow her pace and step more carefully.</p><p>Her worry only increased when she saw that the three men had turned their attention on her PA and were gradually getting closer to her. Theoretically she knew that the former Secret Service agent was more than capable of handling herself and that she wouldn’t let this altercation escalate. The PA could clearly handle unruly nobility. However, this did nothing to stop her growing concern and the slight panic starting to well up in her. She was close enough now that she could hear the conversation between her PA and the group of lords.</p><p>“That’s enough,” Ava said sternly, clearly upset at whatever the men were talking about.</p><p>“We were just joking. Chill out.” Channing, that was the tall one’s name. She remembered him now and immediately regretted ever thinking he was attractive.</p><p>“Well, I don’t think it’s very funny,” Ava said tersely.</p><p>“And neither do I,” Princess Zari said behind them, startling all four of them. “If you’re going to behave like that then you can see yourselves out of the party. I won’t tolerate that kind of speech here.”</p><p>The three lords looked at each other and wisely left without making a scene. It would do them no good to disrespect the host of the party who was also royalty.</p><p>“Jerks,” Ava muttered, expression dark as she watched them weave through the crowd.</p><p>“Precisely,” Princess Zari said, looking at her PA more closely. “Are you alright?”</p><p>Ava’s head snapped up then, realizing exactly who she was speaking too. The PA froze for a moment before remembering protocol. She cringed when she saw the very shaky curtsy Ava managed to execute. Princess Zari’s eyes widened briefly, but she mercifully chose not to make a comment.</p><p>“Yes, I’m all right your highness," Ava said, American accent ringing clear surprising the Mediterranean princess again.</p><p>She could see the princess try and place her and must have judged from the outfit that Ava was staff. She stepped onto the brick path again finally reaching Ava, executed a much more graceful curtsy, and then introduced herself to the princess.</p><p>“Oh yes, what a pleasure to finally meet you. Is this yours,” she said gesturing to her PA.</p><p>Ava gave her an affronted look and she bit her lip to keep from laughing. She stepped closer to the PA, placing a protective hand on the small of her back. She wasn’t really worried that Ava had somehow upset the princess, but you could never be too careful with royalty. She knew some royals who went through staff like water, but Zari seemed to be one of the good ones, standing up for someone who was merely staff.</p><p>“Yes, this would be my assistant Ava. Is everything okay over here?”</p><p>“Just the words of a bunch of Neanderthals,” the princess said waving a hand dismissively. “Idiots. Nothing for you to be concerned about.”</p><p>But looking at Ava who was pensive and still seemed to be upset, she kind of felt like she should. She made the decision to leave the party soon after that. No sense in staying any longer now that the mood was ruined. They sat in silence for the first half of the drive back to the palace, but when it became clear that Ava wasn’t going to speak unprompted, she asked.</p><p>Ava was reluctant to reveal anything at first, but after a stern look from her, she relented.</p><p>“They were saying some unsavory things about you and, well, about the queer community.”</p><p>She nodded. She knew that some people wouldn’t take her coming out well, even if it was accidental. Her mother had told her not to comment on it or take interviews hoping that it would go away and people would forget, but she was glad people knew. She felt a little disheartened at what happened today, but her concern for Ava overrode that. She moved across the car to take a seat next to her PA. She might be making some assumptions about the other woman, but her gaydar was rarely wrong.</p><p>“Are you okay?” She pressed.</p><p>Ava’s brow furrowed. “What? Yeah, I’m fine. I just don’t like that they were talking about you like that.”</p><p>She scoffed. “Ava, I have lived my whole life in the public eye. I’m sure I’ve heard much worse than what you overheard. It comes with the territory. Everyone gets to have their opinion on me, good or bad. I don’t even pay attention to that stuff anymore and neither should you.”</p><p>“I know that you’re used to it, but I hate that they were saying such terrible things about you. For me, coming out was relatively easy. I lived in a liberal area and my family and friends all supported me. I’m sorry that this has been difficult for you. I know it’s not much, but I’m here if you want to talk Sara.”</p><p>Ava reached out towards her and then pulled her hand back once she realized what she was doing. Not giving a damn about etiquette or protocol, she took Ava’s hand in her own and laced their fingers together.</p><p>She looked at her PA warmly. “Thank you for saying that Ava.”</p><p>Ava smiled at her and then turned to stare out the window again looking more thoughtful this time. She let her gaze linger on Ava’s countenance, just letting the time pass them by in companionable silence. Whether it was on purpose or not, Ava didn’t let go of her hand the rest of the ride back and it made her feel warm and happy inside.</p><p> </p><p>0oo0oo0</p><p> </p><p>Laurel arrived early for a meeting with her mother at her favorite gazebo in the Rose Garden on the palace grounds. Inside she found a small round table covered in a white tablecloth and set up with all the necessities for afternoon tea. The queen had been very busy planning other events as of late and she felt like she barely saw her mother anymore. When her mother had invited her here to discuss plans for her upcoming wedding, she answered the request without hesitation.</p><p>Her mother arrived exactly on time, looking perfectly put together in a royal blue empress-waisted dress and black pumps. She stood, curtsied to her Queen mother and then they both sat. The tea was poured soon after, and delicate china plates were filled with comestibles. She spoke about her sister first, bringing up her good behavior. Her mother could sometimes be overly critical of her baby sister, so she tried to put in a good word every now. She also knew that Sara was planning some kind of proposal that she wanted her mother’s support on. It couldn’t hurt to grease the tracks for her.</p><p>Her mother, for her part, seemed pleased with Sara’s behavior over the past few months. “It looks like Ms. Sharpe did just the trick. Not so much as a peep from the tabloids.”</p><p>She took a sip of her tea. “Where did you find Ms. Sharpe, by the way? I always meant to ask. She certainly is an interesting choice.”</p><p>Her mother seemed hesitant to answer.</p><p>“What is it mother?” She asked, curious now.</p><p>The queen leaned in. “You are not to mention a word of this to Sara. Ms. Sharpe did not wish for anyone to know the truth about her, so don’t let this become idol gossip.”</p><p>She nodded. She was very good at keeping secrets.</p><p>Her mother took her time placing her teacup back on its saucer and smoothing out an invisible wrinkle in the tablecloth. The suspense was killing her now.</p><p>“Ava is Lord Darhk’s niece and the daughter of his older brother, Lord Archer Darhk.”</p><p>Archer Darhk. She had heard that name before, but not much of the scandal attached to it. “He ran away with some American girl, right?”</p><p>“Yes, met her at Cambridge, fell in love with her, and followed her home after they both graduated. His father didn’t approve of the girl. He wanted his son to take a larger role in his business and then eventually take over. Lord Archer didn’t come back obviously, married the girl and settled down with her in the States to live a quiet life. It wasn’t terribly scandalous in my opinion, but it was all anyone could talk about for a short period of time. It died down as most gossip does and the story is mostly forgotten by high society.” Her mother paused to take a sip of her tea. “Lord Darhk did, however, have twin daughters who obtained dual citizenship and inherited his title.”</p><p>“So, Ava is a Lady.”</p><p>“Yes, her last name is hyphenated.”</p><p>“Lady Dahrk-Sharpe.” She paused and then asked, “Twins?” Laurel asked. Ava had never mentioned a twin. Ava had never really said much about her personal life, come to think of it.</p><p>“Her sister died almost two years back. I think she came here for a change of pace.”</p><p>“Oh, the poor thing.” Her heart ached for the woman. She couldn’t imagine losing Sara.</p><p>“Please, don’t mention this to anyone,” her mother stressed again.</p><p>Laurel clutched a hand to her heart. “I won’t,” she promised. “It’s not my secret to tell.”</p><p>There did seem to be a silver lining in all of this. Not that she had been dwelling on the subject much, but with Ava being a member of the nobility now, she would certainly make a better match for a princess.</p><p> </p><p>0oo0oo0</p><p> </p><p>It was late, nearly 10pm, but Sara wanted to go over her proposal one more time. It had been a few weeks since Princess Zari’s garden party and in that time she had been working hard on a proposal to endorse a charity that supported homeless LGBTQ youth, The Butterfly House. Her family typically tended to stay away from those types of organizations or anything that might be deemed as too controversial, but now seemed like a good time for change.</p><p>After all she was bisexual, that news was out there, and she was in a position of power where she could make a significant difference in the queer community. This is how she would start once she got her mother’s approval to go ahead with the endorsement.</p><p>She needed her mother to support this, because if she supported this proposal then that must mean that her mother supported her too. There was a lot riding on this and she knew she might be setting herself up for disappointment. This whole thing made her stomach ache.</p><p>“Princess, please.” Ava said tiredly. “You know your presentation by heart. All you need now is a good night’s rest.”</p><p>Her PA had been watching her carefully from teal settee in the sitting room of her personal quarters. She sighed and sat down heavily on the settee next to Ava. She placed the sheaf of papers she had been clutching too tightly on the delicate looking mahogany coffee table in front of them.</p><p>She sighed. “I know, you’re right.”</p><p>“What was that?” Ava said smugly.</p><p>She let out a huff of laughter. “Don’t make me send you out on a midnight Starbucks run,” she threatened.</p><p>She had done it before, but closer to when Ava had joined her staff, back when she was actively trying to get Ava to quit. That wasn’t exactly her MO anymore. Now she was just trying to reign in this newfound crush she was beginning to develop on the other woman, but her PA didn’t make it easy. Ava had been increasingly nicer to her, sweet sometimes, ever since the garden party. This didn’t mean that Ava liked her like that and even if Ava did like her, they could never be anything. She wasn’t nobility. She wasn’t even an aristocrat. Her image concerned mother would never approve of a match with someone who was both common and female and her father would go along with whatever her mother did. She didn’t know why she was even entertaining the possibility.</p><p>“Sara, please no,” Ava practically whined.</p><p>She leaned back heavily against the settee. “Fine. Just one last thing for tonight. Practice your curtsy. I need to start off this presentation on a good note, which won’t happen if the first thing my mother sees is your terrible curtsy.”</p><p>Ava looked at her in askance.</p><p>She gestured to the space in front of the coffee table. “Go on.</p><p>Ava grumbled, but stood up and made her way to the other side of the table. She executed a curtsy with her usual skill, which was to say, no skill at all.</p><p>“Well?” Ava prompted.</p><p>“That was absolutely horrible. How do you even manage to do that? I thought you were going to fall.”</p><p>Ava glared at her, but there was no real heat to it. “I’m sorry they didn’t teach the art of curtsying in American public school. I was too busy learning actual useful things,” her PA said haughtily.</p><p>“Maybe I should hire you an etiquette coach,” she said thoughtfully.</p><p>She was only half joking because Ava would probably benefit from some etiquette lessons considering all the events and benefits she had been bringing her assistant to. Ava just stuck out even without that accent and she would like to keep bringing Ava along with her. She liked having her by her side.</p><p>Her expression must have been thoughtful because Ava looked very worried all of a sudden. “You’re not serious, are you?”</p><p>She shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, its that or send you to finishing school.”</p><p>“Sara,” Ava said growing impatient.</p><p>She stood and walked to stand in front of the PA and began to properly position Ava for a curtsy.</p><p>“You’ve done a good job so far, but you can’t rely on people chalking up your etiquette mishaps as quirky American behavior.”</p><p>“I suppose,” Ava reluctantly agreed.</p><p>She placed her hands on Ava’s hips next, only slightly marveling at the feel of curves beneath her fingers. She needed to stay focused on the task at hand.</p><p>“You’re wearing a dress tomorrow, not a pantsuit. No pouting,” she said trying to resist those puppy dog eyes Ava was giving her.</p><p><em>God, she’s adorable.</em> She probably shouldn’t be thinking about her PA like that.</p><p>“Don’t give me that look.” She chastised halfheartedly.</p><p>She steadied Ava as she helped dip her into a deep curtsy. Steel-blue eyes stayed focused on hers the entire time and she stared back with the same intensity. She wondered if she was imagining the heat in that gaze, if maybe Ava felt something between them too.</p><p>“That’s better,” she assessed.</p><p>She kept her hands on Ava’s hips for a few moments longer than was probably appropriate, enjoying the way Ava’s cheeks turned pink. Eventually she removed her hands, but Ava didn’t move away remaining close.</p><p>She resisted the urge to look at the other woman’s lips and instead said, “It would just be a few lessons here and there. Think of it as part of your professional development.”</p><p>“Alright,” Ava gave in. “It probably would be good for me.”</p><p>She took a few steps back putting some distance between them.</p><p>“I would like to make it clear that you are an excellent personal assistant. This is not a punishment. I would just like to ensure that you won’t get sacked for any etiquette related mistakes or perceived insults.”</p><p>Ava played with the timepiece strapped to her wrist anxiously, before saying, “Well on that note, since you think I’m so excellent, I kind of have a favor to ask you.”</p><p>“A favor,” she said warily.</p><p>She was a royal, she had money and knew people in high places. It wasn’t unusual for people to ask favors of her but she never expected it from Ava. She couldn’t help the disappointment that coursed through her now.</p><p>“Yes, since you’re my boss and everything. Do you think I could have next Friday off?” Ava asked nervously, hand going to toy with the hair at the back of her neck.</p><p>Of course, Ava would think a day off was a proper favor. She felt a little guilty for thinking the worst of her PA. She also felt relieved that Ava wasn’t like everyone else.</p><p>“Of course, you can have a day off. I know I’ve been working you too hard with all of these events.” She smiled at Ava and her PA smiled back weakly seeming a bit off. <em>That’s odd.</em> “Going to visit a friend or something,” she continued on, somewhat aware that she probably shouldn’t press any further.</p><p>Ava turned from her and put even more distance between them by heading to the window. “Umm, no. I’d rather not say if that’s okay. It’s personal.”</p><p>Ava’s back was turned to her now. She couldn’t see Ava’s face, but her voice was strained and she knew that look of anguish was back again. She wished she could just ask Ava what it was that made her so sad. She wished she could make that hurt go away and at the moment she desperately wished she could give her some kind of comfort.</p><p>She stepped up behind Ava, a little too close to be appropriate between a princess and her personal assistant, but at least she resisted the urge to hug the other woman from behind. She caught watery steel-blue eyes in the reflection of the window. Her heart ached when she saw the blonde’s lower lip tremble.</p><p>“Oh Aves,” she breathed. “Come here.”</p><p>Ava spun around then, a tear slipping down her cheek as she pressed herself against Sara. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around Ava tightly and rested her chin atop the PA’s head. Ava was soft and warm against her, smelling faintly of lavender and coconut. The scent was comforting. All too soon Ava was pulling away from her, wiping embarrassedly at her face, and stuttering out apologies.</p><p>“I’m sorry that was completely inappropriate, your highness.”</p><p>“Ava.”</p><p>“I should go.”</p><p>“Ava,” she tried again. “It’s okay.”</p><p>Ava shook her head. “It’s late and you need to rest for your presentation tomorrow. Which you’re going to rock by the way.”</p><p>She watched as Ava made her way to the door, pausing briefly to look at her one last time before closing the door behind her.</p><p>She sighed and shuffled wearily to her bedroom so could collapse on her bed. While her sitting room was done in shades of teal and turquoise, the color palate for her bedroom was composed of darker shades of blue, some green, and grey. The headboard and bed posts were of a dark cherry wood as was her large wardrobe, the side tables, and the vanity across from her bed.</p><p>She pulled out her phone and briefly typed out a message to Ava. It was the only thing she could think of to help.</p><p>
  <em><strong>Sara:</strong> I’m here if you ever need to talk, boss or not.</em>
</p><p>
  <em><strong>Bossy Pants:</strong> Thank you &lt;3</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Part III: The Anniversary</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Hello! Thank you all for your wonderful comments and kudos! I am overwhelmed by all the support this fic is receiving. Anyway here is Part III, enjoy!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Part III: The Anniversary</strong>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Queen Dinah Lance sipped her tea delicately in the Winter Study as she waited for her youngest daughter to arrive. One of her serving staff set a small plate of pastries on the coffee table in front of them, before collecting their serving cart and leaving the room. Beside her her husband, Prince Quentin Lance, checked over today’s schedule one more time. They had an appointment with Laurel and Oliver next to talk about seating arrangements for the wedding reception. The wedding was three months away, but felt like it was approaching faster with each and every passing day. She just wanted her daughter to have the perfect wedding and for everyone else to be suitably impressed.</p>
<p>Her daughter arrived on time for once, dressed smartly in a grey suit with a modest length skirt and matte black pumps. The princess dropped into a perfect curtsy in front of them. Following behind Sara, her assistant strode in holding folders, presumably for her and her husband. Lady Darhk-Sharpe executed a wobbly curtsy that was only slightly improved from when she first arrived. That was progress she guessed.</p>
<p>Once the folders were in front of them, she opened her’s and scanned the first page briefly. She froze when she saw the organization her daughter wanted the Crown to endorse. Oh, this couldn’t happen. It’s not as if she didn’t know her daughter liked women. There had been rumors floating around about the princess since she was in boarding school. She had been hoping that it would just be a phase. Plus, her daughter still appeared to like men, so the princess could still marry an appropriate man of a certain rank and background and be happy. Then they wouldn’t have to deal with all this unsavoriness, all this gossip about her family. The papers had finally stopped discussing her daughter’s sexuality and she would like to keep it that way. The focus should be on Princess Laurel and Lord Oliver.</p>
<p>Still, she sat and listened politely to Sara’s passionate pitch about helping the LGBTQ community. Behind her, Lady Darkh-Sharpe looked on at her daughter with pride. She made uneasy eye contact with the woman, before focusing on her daughter again. In her periphery, she saw the assistant frown.</p>
<p>“Well, what do you think?” Sara asked hopefully.</p>
<p>She sighed deeply and felt a little bad as she watched her daughter’s expression fall. “Sara we can’t do this.”</p>
<p>“What?” Sara said, shock clear in her voice.</p>
<p>Quentin jumped in, always softer on Sara than she was. “Your mother means to say that launching a progressive campaign just before Laurel’s wedding wouldn’t be very wise.”</p>
<p>“No darling, that’s not what I meant to say. We aren’t going to take a stance on this particular issue. We will remain neutral, so as to not cause any controversy.”</p>
<p>“Are you serious?” Her daughter said, clearly upset now. “This is the 21st century. Gay marriage is already legal in this country. What does it matter?!”</p>
<p>“Sara,” she said sternly, standing up from her chair. “We are to remain neutral about this issue and that’s final. At the moment we are not going to take a stance.”</p>
<p>“You won’t take a stance, even for me?” Sara asked, eyes wet.</p>
<p>She didn’t know how to answer that. She loved her daughter more than anything. She just wished she wasn’t such a rebel. Sara had always been so furiously independent and brave, forging her own path, but Dinah wasn’t sure if she herself was brave enough to do right by her daughter. Doing right would cause a social upheaval among her more conservative subjects and parliament members. Which mattered more, the opinion of her subjects or her daughter?</p>
<p>She remained silent and the princess nodded her head solemnly. She watched with regret as Sara spun around and practically sprinted out of the room, leaving her assistant behind. Her husband’s voice rang out as he called after their daughter. The disappointed look in Quentin’s eyes made her stomach twist uncomfortably.</p>
<p>When she turned back to look at the door her daughter had left through, she was surprised to see Lady Darhk-Sharpe still standing there. In an unexpected move, the woman stepped up to them, lips pinched tightly together and face a mask of controlled anger.</p>
<p>“I know you probably think that you’re protecting your family, your majesty,” Lady Darhk-Sharpe began. “But what you just did today, it was hurtful. You can’t just pick and choose the parts you love about her. It doesn’t work like that. You have to love her in her entirety or you’ll do more damage than you know.”</p>
<p>Her heart clenched and that guilt that she had been trying to ignore surged to the forefront of her mind. Maybe she could have done that better. She loved Sara, she just needed time to adjust now that there was definitive proof of her daughter’s sexuality out there in the world.</p>
<p>The Lady took a breath seeming to gear up for more. “And one more thing. Sara isn’t the only one you hurt when you ignore her identity like this. We’re also part of your kingdom, some of your subjects. We’re here and we matter too.”</p>
<p>And then the Lady was gone before she could even reprimand her for speaking so rudely, but maybe she deserved that. When it was so glaringly pointed out to her, Lady Darhk-Sharpe was right. The LQBTQ community had every right to ask for the Crown’s support. Was it controversial to support her own people? Was it right to continue to ignore a vulnerable minority group? Doing what was right would be difficult and take a lot of planning. She would need to think about this, but in the meantime she owed her daughter an apology.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>0oo0oo0</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ava hoped she wouldn’t get fired for berating the queen like that, but truth be told, it wasn’t her main concern when she left the Winter Study in search of the Sara. She found the princess holed up in her room, tucked beneath her comforter and refusing to show her face. The sniffling sounds coming from beneath the covers told her that the princess was crying. Sara’s parents might not have outright told her that they didn’t approve of her, but indifference wasn’t much better. She felt her anger burn hot again, but she remained standing beside the princess’s bed unsure what to do.</p>
<p>“Just leave me alone, Ava.” Sara’s voice came out thick with emotion and she felt another pang of concern for the princess. She couldn’t just leave.</p>
<p>“Sara, I-.”</p>
<p>“Ava, please…” The princess cleared her throat and then in an unaffected and slightly muffled voice said, “You’re dismissed for the day.”</p>
<p>“But, I can-.”</p>
<p>The covers came off revealing a disheveled Sara with red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained cheeks. A pitiful sight, really.</p>
<p>“That’s an order,” Sara said firmly. When she tried to protest again, Sara arched an eyebrow at her, “from your princess.”</p>
<p>She grimaced. She hated when Sara pulled rank like that, especially when it was just the two of them. Sara only looked at her expectantly.</p>
<p>She rolled her eyes and dropped into a purposefully awful curtsy, earning her a small sad smile from the princess. She walked out of the princess’s quarters slowly, reluctantly, hoping to be called back. She wanted to be by Sara’s side comforting her like the princess had done for her the night before.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It turned out that leaving the distraught princess alone was a massive mistake, because at midnight she was awakened by her cell phone ringing non-stop. The number displayed on her screen was unknown, but she answered it anyway because whoever was calling her clearly wouldn’t stop till she did.</p>
<p>“Hello,” she said groggily.</p>
<p>“Ava, this is Princess Zari Tazari. We met at my garden party last month. You might want to get out here to the Revel Night Club. The princess has had a little too much to drink and is in need of some supervision. I don’t see any security or any of her staff nearby.”</p>
<p>It took a moment for her sleep heavy mind to register the words, but then they hit her with startlingly clarity.<br/>
“Dammit, Sara.”</p>
<p>“Hmm, yes,” the princess agreed. “She seems like a good sort. I thought it would be best if I was the only one in the headlines this week.”</p>
<p>“Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Thank you. Really, I mean it.”</p>
<p>It was half past midnight by the time she made it to the club. There seemed to be some sort of exclusive party going on because the place was packed and she recognized a number of nobility she had meet at events in the crowd. The music was loud and the energy in the room was off the walls. She weaved her way through the throng of people and towards a roped off VIP area. As she got closer, she could see the Tazari siblings sequestered with Sara at one side of the roped off area, as far away as possible from the prying eyes and ears of the other VIP members as they could get.</p>
<p>Princess Zari met her at the red rope, gesturing at the beefy looking security guard to let her in. She quickly made her way across the VIP area stopping in front of her princess who was busy talking animatedly to Prince Behrad on a red velvet couch. She passed a critical eye over Sara, making sure she wasn’t harmed in anyway.</p>
<p>When Sara finally noticed her presence, the princess positively beamed at her, which brought an unbidden smile to her own lips. Her breath caught in her throat when she was able to take in what the princess was actually wearing. That tight black dress fit Sara like a glove and showed off ample curves and a lot of skin (not that she was complaining).</p>
<p>
  <em>God, those arms.</em>
</p>
<p>She gave herself a mental shake, making herself focus on the task at hand instead of drooling over her boss. She scanned the room around them quickly, noting a lack of paparazzi. She assumed that must be Princess Zari’s doing. She turned when she felt Zari’s presence behind her.</p>
<p>“Thanks again for calling me,” she said, leaning in close to Princess Zari, so she could hear her over the loud thumping music.</p>
<p>The shorter Mediterranean princess put a hand on her forearm to steady herself as she leaned up to speak into her ear. Distracted by Zari, she missed the displeased look that passed across her own princess’s face when she noted how close her PA and Princess Zari were standing.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry about it. I consider Princess Sara to be a friend, even if she seems to like my annoying little brother more than me.”</p>
<p>She let out a huff of laughter and stepped back from Zari, only to be encountered almost immediately by Sara. The princess stumbled up to her still smiling.</p>
<p>“Ava,” the princess said brightly, “Did you come to party with me?”</p>
<p>“I think you know I didn’t,” she said dryly.</p>
<p>Sara pouted at her and it was very cute and she tried not to find it cute.</p>
<p>She put hand on Sara’s shoulder to keep her steady as well as to maintain a professional distance, but princess had other plans. Sara raised herself up on her tippy toes to plant a kiss on her cheek. She could feel the blush heat up her cheeks the moment soft lips met her skin. When she looked over to see if anyone had noticed them, she saw no one in particular watching them, except Princess Zari who looked very amused at the whole scene and arched an eyebrow at her almost teasingly.</p>
<p>She pushed Sara back to a respectable distance, cheeks still pink. “Sara it’s time to go home now. Okay?”</p>
<p>She ignored the princess’s protests as she scanned the club again. No paparazzi still, but anyone with a phone could take a picture and make a quick buck. Throwing the princess over her shoulder and carrying her out forcibly probably wasn’t an option.</p>
<p>She looked back at Sara who was squinting at her in confusion. “Did you put your hair in a bun? Ava, it’s after midnight. You should let your hair down.”</p>
<p>Sara reached out to touch her hair, but she gently pushed the princess’s hand away from her head. Her hair <em>was</em> in a bun, but it wasn’t nearly as neat as she would have liked it to be. In her rush to get to Sara, she had half-assed her normal updo and threw on a pair skinny jeans and a forest green t-shirt. Nothing fancy.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry your majesty. I’ll remember to do that next time,” she replied sardonically.</p>
<p>“Good.”</p>
<p>She had to get the princess out of here before anything actually did happen. She wasn’t about to break her streak of keeping the princess out of trouble.</p>
<p>Thinking on her feet, she said. “Princess, I actually have something I want to show you.”</p>
<p>Sara scrunched up her face adorably. “You do?”</p>
<p>“Yes, but you’ll have to follow me.” She held out her hand and hoped that in her inebriated state the princess would fall for it.</p>
<p>Sara put her smaller hand in hers and they made their way out of the VIP area and through the crowd. It was a bit of a struggle to make it through the thick mass of people, but she kept Sara as close to her as possible and made her way through. Halfway across the dance floor the crowd stopped parting for her and she came to a sudden stop. She felt Sara bump into her and then press up against her back as they waited for people to move, her small hands clutching at her hips for balance.</p>
<p>Even with all the noise and flashing lights, she was still hyper aware of the heat radiating off of Sara’s body and the hot puffs of breath against her ear. She shivered and was acutely aware that the princess could feel it too. She really needed to tamp down on her attraction to her boss. Eventually people let her through. She led them to the back of the club and through a door to a back alley where the royal town car was waiting for them. She pushed Sara into the car quickly, the princess complaining the entire time. Once they were securely inside she instructed the driver to head back to the palace.</p>
<p>“You tricked me,” the princess accused.</p>
<p>She couldn’t help the impish smile that graced her lips. “Did I? I definitely wanted to show you this wonderful town car we’re currently in.”</p>
<p>“I was having fun,” the princess whined.</p>
<p>“I know.” She was well aware that Sara needed to blow off some steam after the day she had.</p>
<p>“It’s unfair. If I were anyone else, it wouldn’t even matter.”</p>
<p>“But you’re not anyone else and I’m sorry that you can’t go out and get drunk with your friends after a bad day like a normal person.” She leaned in closer. “Let’s make a deal. The next time you want to be a party animal, we keep the party at home. We can snag some whiskey from the kitchens and I’ll drink with you.”</p>
<p>Sara laughed. “That’s a terrible idea, but fine, as long as you wear those jeans.”</p>
<p>Something low in her belly coiled at the princess’s flirtatious words. She felt her cheeks heat up for the second time that night and was thankful it was too dark for Sara to see her blush. At least the attraction seemed to be mutual.</p>
<p>“Sure, Sara.”</p>
<p>“Are you going to dance with me too,” the princess asked coyly.</p>
<p>The thought of Sara dancing pressed up against was almost too much. <em>Control yourself, Sharpe.</em></p>
<p>“Behave yourself.” She warned playfully.</p>
<p>“Fiinnne.” Sara leaned back in her seat and groaned unhappily. “Can we at least get something to eat?</p>
<p>“Do you have a Tacobell nearby,” she joked, remembering her post-party Tacobell runs in college fondly.</p>
<p>“Taco what’s now?”</p>
<p>She gasped in shock and widened her eyes comically. “Wow, that’s a true travesty. Tacobell is the perfect drunk food. We’ll have to rectify it one day with a trip to the States.”</p>
<p>“Sounds good to me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>0oo0oo0</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sara woke up the next morning hungover and miserable and slightly regretting going out last night. She hadn’t even checked her phone to see if she had made the society news again. She pulled the covers over her head and snuggled back down into her bed. Blessedly, Ava had moved her schedule around last night so she didn’t have to face the world until late afternoon.</p>
<p>She was still surprised by how calm Ava had been about her escape last night. The chastising had been minimal when they had finally gotten home and her PA was more sympathetic than anything. It was nice to finally have someone in her corner.</p>
<p>A knock coming from the door to her quarters interrupted her thoughts, but she ignored it. She nearly groaned when she heard the door open and the creaking of centuries old floorboards.</p>
<p>“Ava no, you said I could sleep in,” she whined from beneath her covers.</p>
<p>She heard a chuckle near her bedside that most certainly did not belong to her PA and shot up in alarm.</p>
<p>“Mother,” she said in surprise.</p>
<p>“I see Ms. Sharpe keeps you on a short leash.” Queen Dinah said amusedly.</p>
<p>The queen looked ready for the day, dressed in an elegant plum colored dress with hair and makeup fully made up. This contrasted sharply with her rumpled PJ ensemble.</p>
<p>“Yes, the fear of pillow assaults keeps me in line.”</p>
<p>She scooted over a little, silently inviting her mother to sit. The queen took the invitation and settled herself on the edge of her bed. Her mother’s eyes looked her over critically and she was pretty sure she looked as terrible as she felt.</p>
<p>“Are you hungover?” her mother asked, her voice tinged with disapproval.</p>
<p>“A little,” she admitted.</p>
<p>“You didn’t make the headlines.” The queen said, mildly surprised.</p>
<p>She shrugged, kind of surprised herself. “Ava’s doing. She’s a miracle worker.”</p>
<p>“Indeed, she is. I suppose I can forgive her now for the way she spoke to me after our meeting yesterday.”</p>
<p>Sara sat up straighter at that, worry clenching her heart. “How she spoke to you? What are you talking about?”</p>
<p>“After you left Ms. Sharpe stayed behind and gave me a rather stern talking to about how this affects not only you, but the LGBTQ community. She reminded me that all of my subjects deserve my respect and support regardless of their sexuality.” Her mother looked ashamed and genuinely sorry.</p>
<p>She opened her mouth to speak, but her mother put a hand up to stop her.</p>
<p>The queen continued on a little less gracefully than before. “I wanted to apologize for yesterday and to make it clear that I love you. Being bisexual doesn’t change that. I just …” she said helplessly. “I don’t…I’m not handling this well.”</p>
<p>She couldn’t help the snort of laughter that left her. Her mother glared at her in response.</p>
<p>“I’m going to approve your proposal, but I need some time, Sara. Let’s reconvene in two weeks and discuss a plan for moving forward.”</p>
<p>She had never been especially close with her mother (she had always been a daddy’s girl), but she launched herself at her mother wrapping her up in a big hug.</p>
<p>“You don’t know how much this means to me,” she said, getting choked up.</p>
<p>“I guess I don’t and I’m sorry I never asked,” her mother said pressing a kiss into her hair. She broke a little then, crying softly at first and then sobbing loudly and messily against the crook of her mother’s neck.</p>
<p>Queen Dinah pulled her daughter as tightly against herself as she could. “I’m sorry my darling. I love you so much. Never doubt that.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>0oo0oo0</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The following week was relatively uneventful in comparison to the last week and Ava was grateful for it. She was struggling to hold herself together as it were. The closer she got to the anniversary of her twin sister’s death, the moodier and more distracted she became. It would be two years since her sister’s death had occurred and she had requested the day off as a favor from the princess, knowing she wouldn’t be able to handle working that day.</p>
<p>She felt really embarrassed about how that went about. Falling apart in the princess’s arms like that, but Sara had been so sweet and kind to her when she needed it the most. She could have stayed in Sara’s warm embrace forever, but she left abruptly and awkwardly without any explanation.</p>
<p>Sara hasn’t asked her about it yet, but with the looks she’s been getting all week she feels like she owes the princess some kind of explanation. Even Laurel noticed something was off about her this week. She had been quieter than usual and kept getting lost in the past, lost in the memories of her sister. She had thought about going home this weekend to be with her parents, but she had left the States so she could move on with her life without reminders of her sister everywhere. She would give them a video call though.</p>
<p>It was Thursday now and she was an absolute mess and while everyone around her was being polite and pretending not to notice, she was very aware of all of her imperfections today. She had skipped breakfast and even lunch despite secretary Stein and assistant secretary Felicity trying to tempt her with food. She was too nauseous to eat, and she looked pale and a little unkempt. She hadn’t even bothered with a blazer today for her pantsuit.</p>
<p>She looked up from the papers she was proofreading at her desk and caught the princess observing her again. She smiled weakly, but Sara only frowned back. The princess stood suddenly and crossed the room to take the red pen from her hand and set it down.</p>
<p>“You look like you’re going to be ill. You’re done for the day,” Sara said softly.</p>
<p>She wanted to argue, but all the fight went out of her when she saw concern and compassion in the princess’s ocean blue eyes.</p>
<p>“Alright, thank you.”</p>
<p>She stood, but didn’t make a move to leave. She wanted something from the princess she didn’t think was appropriate to ask for. She glanced at the closed door of Sara’s office. They were alone and no one came in without knocking first. Her gaze shifted back to Sara and she wished desperately she could be in her arms, safe and warm, if only for a moment.</p>
<p>Then she realized how ridiculous that thought was. Sara was a princess for god’s sake and her boss, and Sara probably didn’t think about her the way she thought about Sara. If only her cousin Nora wasn’t out of the country this week on business, then she could retreat to the Darhk Estate and hole up with her cousin for the weekend.</p>
<p>“Ava?” Sara said cautiously, bringing her back to the present.</p>
<p>“Yes sorry. I’ll go now. Thank you again.”</p>
<p>Thursday rolled into Friday, a dark overcast day that matched her mood perfectly. She spent the day in her small set of rooms she had in the palace. Her personal staff quarters consisted of a small kitchenette, a bedroom, and a bathroom. It was small, but enough for her and her ginger cat, Martin, whom she brought with her all the way from America.</p>
<p>In the morning, she woke up at her normal time and showered only to change into her day pajamas before crawling back into bed with her cat. She scrolled through some pictures of her and her sister on her phone, trying to focus on the happy memories they had together. Around mid-morning she called her parents and then cried afterward. She couldn’t explain why, but she thought this year she would be stronger, that she wouldn’t feel the pain of her sister’s loss so keenly. Maybe this was something that would just happen every year on the anniversary of her sister’s death.</p>
<p>She took a nap after her parents called with her cat snuggled up against her and woke up sometime after 1pm starving. She couldn’t even remember the last time she ate, but the task of getting out of bed to get food seemed daunting. She reached out and blindly searched for her phone. She had missed a call from Nora and had several text messages from Sara.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em><strong>HRH Sara Lance:</strong> (8:00am) Hey Ava hope you’re doing okay. Please let me know if you need anything.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em><strong>HRH Sara Lance:</strong> (9:01am) Can you just let me know that you’re okay?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>HRH Sara Lance:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> (10:11am) ???</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em><strong>HRH Sara Lance:</strong> (11:00am) Just send me a text to let me know you’re alive</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em><strong>HRH Sara Lance:</strong> (12:00pm) Ava!</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She rolled her eyes. While she was touched by the princess’s concern, Sara could be so dramatic. Just as she was about to reply another text appeared on her screen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em><strong>HRH Sara Lance:</strong> (1:16pm) I’m worried! I’m coming to your room and I’m bringing you soup.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She looked at the text in alarm, jostling her cat awake in the process. He mewed grumpily at her before hopping off the bed and disappearing. She sat up and looked around her room quickly. It was clean enough, but she was in her PJs and her hair was a mess. She wasn’t even wearing a bra.</p>
<p>There was a knock on her door followed by, “I come baring soup!”</p>
<p>“It’s open,” she called out, pulling the covers up some more.</p>
<p>The princess came into view holding a wooden serving tray laden with a bowl of chicken noodle soup, a few thick crusty slices of bread, a fruit cup, and water.</p>
<p>“This is really sweet of you, your royal highness, but I’m fine,” she said weakly. “I was just napping nothing to worry about.”</p>
<p>Sara arched an eyebrow at her. “When was the last time you ate?”</p>
<p>“I um…” She scrambled to come up with an appropriate answer, but was too slow.</p>
<p>Sara smiled triumphantly at her. “That’s what I thought.”</p>
<p>Sara unfolded the legs of the tray creating a little table over her lap and then perched on the bed next to her. She ate with gusto, wolfing down the soup and missing the amused looks she was receiving from the princess. When she was done, Sara deposited the tray on the small dresser that sat across from her bed.</p>
<p>Sara seemed to hesitate at the foot of the bed before setting herself up in the bed next to her, leaning her back against the headboard, while she herself lay on her side fully reclined. They watched each for a while, not saying anything until the princess broke the silence.</p>
<p>“You don’t have to tell me what’s going on with you, but I’m a really good listener and I’m here if you need me. I know you’ve been…” Sara seemed to consider her words carefully. “I know that there is something that’s been causing you pain since you’ve gotten here. I just want to know if there’s something I can do?”</p>
<p>She smiled gently at the princess, touched at her kindness. “There really isn’t, but I think I will talk to you about it. You’re the closet thing I have to a friend here besides Nora, er Lady Eleanor.”</p>
<p>Sara smiled at her encouragingly.</p>
<p>She took a deep breath and tried not to crumble. “Today is the anniversary of my sister’s death. It’s been two years.”</p>
<p>She heard Sara suck in a sharp breath. She grabbed her phone and pulled up a picture of her and her sister to show the princess.</p>
<p>“This is Josslyn.”</p>
<p>“You were twins?” Sara said in surprise. “Ava, I’m so sorry.”</p>
<p>“Thanks.”</p>
<p>“I imagine you were very close,” Sara said handing her phone back.</p>
<p>“Extremely,” she replied, her voice cracked, tears gathering in her eyes. “We did everything together. We were maybe a little too co-dependent, but she was my best friend as well as my sister. It was an accident, a drunk driver. She was coming home from work and he slammed into her. She died on impact.”</p>
<p>“Is that why you came here then? To get a fresh start.”</p>
<p>She wiped at her eyes, trying to hide the tears that were falling, but she knew the princess saw them. “Everything in DC reminded me of her even after a year. It wasn’t doing me any good staying there.”</p>
<p>She sniffled and picked at her comforter trying to avoid the princess’s gaze. She felt too vulnerable right now.</p>
<p>“Ava, just come here.” The princess said urging her to put her head in her lap. Sara began to gently stroked her hair, working out the knots in her messy locks and just letting her be silent.</p>
<p>“Thank you for telling me that. If there’s anything I can do-. Holy shit!” Sara shouted as her cat jumped onto the bed. “You have a cat?!”</p>
<p>“I have a cat,” she agreed, her mood brightening.</p>
<p>She looked up in time to see Sara put a hand over her heart, trying to catch her breath.</p>
<p>“I think I just had a heart attack. You couldn’t have warned me that you had a wild animal in here the whole time?”</p>
<p>She chuckled and wiggled her fingers at the ginger cat who purred and rubbed himself against her hand. “Martin is extremely domestic, I assure you. I’m sorry he scared you.”</p>
<p>Sara resumed stroking her hair, but glared at her cat. She closed her eyes enjoying the princess’s touch and ignoring the voice in her head that said this was crossing a line. That she shouldn’t be allowing this to happen, but today was different. She could let it go just for the day. She sighed and cuddled further into the princess’s lap.</p>
<p>“What was she like? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” Sara said from above her.</p>
<p>She cracked an eye open to see the princess looking down at her with a tender look in her eyes. It made her heart do stupid fluttery things.</p>
<p>“No, it’s okay. I’d like to tell you. I think you would have liked her. Of the two of us, she was always the more adventurous one.”</p>
<p>And that’s how she spent the second anniversary of her sister’s death, with head resting on the princess’s lap and telling funny stories about her and her sister. Somehow Sara managed to make the day a bit more bearable.</p>
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